New Orleans East Redevlopment

[nola17]

Well, The future of New Orleans East is more visable. Announced this week, N.O. East could play host to a Family Entertainment District which would be located near Six Flags. I see High hopes for N.O. East but is it to far away from the french quarter and downtown.

[NCB]

I love this idea for New Orleans East, especially the plans for a town center, bike paths, more activity center's, and maybe even bringing back Lincoln Beach.

Here's a quote from the article:

The plan outlines three categories of projects:

-- Early steps would include repairing levees, major streets and drainage; replacing street signs; opening health care facilities, schools, supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations and banks; revitalizing Joe Brown Park; and organizing more neighborhood associations.

-- Midterm steps would include repairing damaged sidewalks and curbs; demolishing blighted properties; revitalizing retail businesses; and creating an additional police district.

-- The long-term category calls for creating an entertainment district and neighborhood parks; installing sound barriers along the interstate highways; and improving the 7,000-acre New Orleans Regional Business Park.

"I think the plan was well prepared and well put together," said Dwight Jarrett, who lived in the Kingswood neighborhood of eastern New Orleans pre-Katrina before being displaced to Gretna.

"I've gutted my home and have started to rehab it," Jarrett continued. "This (the plan) makes me feel a whole lot better about coming back. It gives direction -- something people here badly needed."

[richyb83]

I like the sounds of these ideas. I hope it works out in NO East. A Town Center with parks, bike trails and entertainment district sounds great ! That levee work is quite a task.

[nola17]

One thing that wasn't made clear is if Six Flags is going to reopen? Any knows?

[UptownNewOrleans]

I haven't heard anything about 6 Flags, but I'm sure it's either already open or opening soon. Usually, Uptown and Downtown New Orleans get the bulk of the development, but I'm glad N.O. east is getting their share.

[SlidellWX]

Actually...6 Flags wants to close the park permanently...just like 7 other parks across the nation. I'm hoping another park operator will take over the operation down the road. It is the only large amusement park between San Antonio and Tampa in the Gulf Coast States. All of the Houston parks are closing.

[nola17]

I think that this new development wouldn't attrack many touris because its so far away from dowtown and the French Quarter. But mabey if new orleans markets the area there could possibly be more tourist in the east.

Are there any renderings of how this is supposed to look?

[tennis1400]

new Orleans East will only appeal to people in that area of town. Tourists simply have no reason to go there. Theme parks are only reginal draws anyway( disney excluded). The best hope for New Orleans East is to become an affordable area of town with the expected stores and food venues that everywhere else in the country has. Six Flags should have been built in the River Parishes or the North Shore. Those kind of parks dont belong in the city center. Every single Six Flags built really close to the city core is closing because they attract gang problems and arent family friendly. either way I hope the area becomes better than it was before.

Cheers,

Derek

[dan326]

I hope the Six Flags doesn't close because I wan't to go. In fact, we were going to go the week of Hurricane Katrina. But if it doesn't open back up, maybe Dixie Landin' can have some of it's roller coasters. Actually, one of the roller coasters at Six Flags New Olreans came from Six Flags San Antonio.

[NCB]

I expect Six Flags New Orleans to close, and I was expecting it to close eventually even before Katrina. The New Orleans park was one of the worse parks for Six Flags in terms of a gross product. The park really isn't that great anyway, and because of the fact that there are so many better things to do for tourists and locals in New Orleans than go to a theme park, it suffered big time. Though even if there was nothing better to do in New Orleans, it still probably wouldn't draw that many tourists because of the crappy location in relation to the rest of the city. I liked the park better when it was "Jazzland" even though the rides weren't as nice or extensive. I just like the more local feel that the park originally offered.

Though I wouldn't be suprised to see another operator buy the park down the road, because like Slidell mentioned, it is the largest theme park between San Antonio and Tampa, and it could be made into a very profitable park with the right management and oversight.

[Puddinhead]

Six Flags should have been built in the River Parishes or the North Shore. Those kind of parks dont belong in the city center.

I'm pretty sure they've already announced they won't reopen.

I won't argue with anything else you've said, but the site where the park is located is no where close to the "city center". It seems your logic is that a park can only be successful if it's inaccessible. One of the greatest challenges the park faced, however, WAS in fact it's location...there's just a large percentage of folks in the area (the "region" you spoke of that the park would expect to draw from...Jefferson, North Shore, etc.) who frankly WILL NOT venture into an area where the population is majority black residents. Even if that area (New Orleans East) had a higher per capita income than the city as a whole, and had become the "area of choice" for the upwardly-mobile middle class black New Orleans families.

Oh.....and I liked the park when it was Jazzland better, too. No doubt it was cleaner, even if it had fewer rides. Six Flags is a lousy park operator, so I pretty much expected it to go downhill after they acquired it. You could see how ineffective their management style was after they took over Astroworld. The place became a pigsty.

[nola17]

Personally Six Flags should have never been built there to begin with. It would have had much more business somewhere either along the river near Woldenburg Park or even near the Convention Center